This enzyme is proposed to act in the ring-opening step of phenylacetic acid degradation [1] which follows ligation of the acid with coenzyme A (by PaaF) and hydroxylation by a multicomponent non-heme iron hydroxylase complex (PaaGHIJK). Gene symbols have been standardized in [2]. This enzyme is related to aldehyde dehydrogenases and has a domain which is a member of the PF00171 family.
This family includes sequences from Burkholderia, Bordetella, Streptomyces. Other PaaN enzymes are represented by a separate model, TIGR02278.